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Monday, August 26, 2013

REVIEW + Giveaway The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard

About The Book:
Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.

About the Author:
Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.

My Review:
Favourite line: "I'm perfectly happy with a good book and a bowl of Double Fudge ice cream."

Yes, Allison, so am I!

Firstly, I have to say that the cover of The Forgotten Ones is pure awesomeness. I love it! So, so pretty. The font, the image, the colours, everything is beautiful.

Okay, so I went into this book with a preconceived expectation that was fulfilled, but not in the way I assumed it would be. The cover and title lent towards something magical and mystical, so when I was almost half way and hadn’t encountered anything in the way of magic (as in waving wands and stuff, not romantic magic, although there wasn’t much of that either), I was convinced I was reading a contemporary romance.

Then bam! We have magic faeries flitting around causing all sorts of trouble. Cool.

I’m going to back-track and start with Allison and Ethan’s relationship. I loved the tension between them, but sometimes I wanted to smack her over the head. Seriously, she’d been in love with this guy for forever, and he was obviously into her, but Allison kept making excuses. Her main reason was because Ethan was a player, but I didn’t really see that. If a girl was hanging off him, he made the effort to untangle himself and run to her. There was never any big event that Allison witnessed Ethan doing to suggest he was with heaps of girls. I wanted Allison and Ethan to get it on more.

Now, back to the bam! moment.

The first half of this book read like a contemporary romance, then all of a sudden I was thrown into a magical world with conniving faeries, some of them imprisoned, others creepy, and way too many complicated names to make sense of, or try and remember. At one point there were two guys fighting each other and their names both started with A. I got confused and it took me a while to work out if the guy who won was the guy I thought he was. I ended up skimming over the names because I didn’t know how to pronounce them. There was a pronunciation guide at the back of the book, but I didn’t know it was there until I'd finished. I think I wouldn’t have struggled so much if I’d read this first.

The reason for all the faerie fighting: Allison’s mum is schizophrenic. Allison has grown up with no father and spends all her time worrying about her mother. She also believes she is the reason for her mum’s illness. Cue creepy faerie man, Liam. He turns up looking for Allison’s mum, and is actually Allison’s long lost dad, and everything goes to hell. She disappears, Ethan disappears, and Allison goes to faerie land to save them.

Despite the things I didn’t like, I did enjoy The Forgotten Ones. It was a fast and easy read, but not one that grabbed my complete attention. There were too many characters for me to get invested in anyone in particular, and Allison was a little boring really. My favourite moment by far was the one kiss Allison and Ethan shared, but it was over so quickly. I really like Ethan, and I wish Allison had given him more of a chance.

The ending: We’re left with a cliff-hanger, but I didn’t feel as if there was a huge lead up to it. The story just sort of stopped. I love a good cliff-hanger, but I’m not a fan of this sudden-stop type of ending, and for me there was no satisfactory resolution. I know it’s part of a trilogy, but the second book isn’t out yet! This is the kind of book where you need the next one to keep going with the story, and I do want to find out what happens.

Overall I liked The Forgotten Ones, but I didn’t love it. That’s okay though, because there are plenty of people that will love it, and I encourage you to give it a go for yourself. You never know, it may be your favourite read of 2013.

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